question when using /forum for install

[Nodaz]

i have an install of smf that has been running for years, it was installed in the public_html folder so obviously it is the first thing you see when you navigate to the url.

I am going to install SMF on a second url, BUT this time i think i will install it in a /forum folder, my question is what is the best method to (re)direct traffic directly to the forum when they type in the URL.
eventually id like to install a landing page of some sort in the public folder but they will come later.

[Kindred]

Use htaccess to force the redirect

[Nodaz]

ok, ive not done much of anything with htaccess, after looking around a bit i see it is recommended to use htaccess only if i dont have access to the main server configuration file.
Is that something accesable through cpanel, how do i know if i have access to it?

That said, what would i put in the htaccess file or change in the server config file?

Edit:
ok looks like i need to do a 301 redirect?
example, put this in the file:

301 / http://my-example.com/forum

or should i do a temp redirect:

302 / http://my-example.com/forum

[Kindred]

I don't know who says that recommendation... Personally, I think htaccess is the roper way to deal with it almost all the time.

Code Select Expand

# This allows you to redirect index.html to a specific subfolder
Redirect / http://example.com/forum/


I think that should work.

[Nodaz]

installed but running into another issue, ill create a separate thread for it.

[Nodaz]

I don't know who says that recommendation... Personally, I think htaccess is the roper way to deal with it almost all the time.

Code Select Expand

# This allows you to redirect index.html to a specific subfolder
Redirect / http://example.com/forum/


I think that should work.

redirect fails, the redirect adds this to the end of the url
/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/forum/
nothing in the htaccess file expect what you recommended

[Nodaz]

after a little hunting around i found this:

Code Select Expand

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?YourDomain.com$
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ forum [L]

supossed to be seach engine friendly and it worked to redirect obviously, change domain in 3rd line and folder name between $ [L] in last line

[Kindred]

yeah....  that one is better.

I see what happened with the other one -   it got caught in a loop of redirect